Willie’s Favorite Records Of ‘09
Written by willshoob on Monday, 14 of December , 2009 at 7:35 pm
Here’s my list, most records are interchangeable, except for #1, which was far and away the best record of ‘09. Feel free to add your own lists or comments/critiques in the comments.
25) Kurt Vile- Childish Prodigy
Kurt Vile- Overnite Religion
24) Here We Go Magic- Here We Go Magic
Here We Go Magic- Fangela
23) The Antlers- Hospice
The Antlers- Two
22) Foreign Born- Person To Person
Foreign Born- Early Warnings
21) What’s Up- Content Imagination
What’s Up- Harper
20) Bat For Lashes- Two Suns
Bat For Lashes- Daniel
19) WHY?- Eskimo Snow
WHY?- This Blackest Purse
18) Deradoorian- Mind Raft
Deradoorian- Holding Pattern
17) Mount Eerie- Wind’s Poem
Mount Eerie- Lost Wisdom pt. 2
16) Rain Machine- Rain Machine
Rain Machine- Smiling Black Faces
15) Sunset Rubdown- Dragonslayer
Sunset Rubdown- Idiot Heart
14) Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective- Summertime Clothes
13) Death- For The Whole World To See
Death- Rock-N-Roll Victim
12) Wild Beasts- Two Dancers
Wild Beasts- Hooting & Howling
11) tUnE-yArDs- BiRd-BrAiNs
tUnE-yArDs- Sunlight
10) Girls- Album
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of hype if you live up to those expectations. Girls made a debut album filled with creative pop songs, with each and every track having memorable moments. Catchy melodies were a plenty on this record, a few of which I sung for days at a time.
Girls- Lust For Life
09) Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II
This record may have overcome the most to get made. 15 or so years of waiting, and it’s finally here. OB4CL2 has arrived in all of its glory. The world’s most famous crack chef gave us another album filled with memorable tracks. It’s nice to see a dude who can talk about crack for about 20 tracks, while not losing his listener once.
Raekwon- House Of Flying Daggers (Feat. Inspectah Deck, GZA, Ghostface Killah & Method Man)
08) Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
While this album is probably a lot higher on most other lists, I had to be completely honest with myself when evaluating this record. As much as I enjoy the majority of Veckatimest, there are still a few tracks that I find boring. The chamber pop concept is beautiful and everything, but the less interesting songs tend to stand out on an album when most of the tracks have relatively similar ideas. Regardless of that, it was still one of my favorites of the year, which is a testament to how great the great tracks on this album are.
Grizzly Bear- Ready, Able
07) Dan Deacon- Bromst
The way Dan Deacon took the fun aspects of Spiderman of the Rings and effortlessly blended them with the thoughtfully composed ideas that made Bromst what it is, truly amazed me. A fun, intelligent record that will get any party started (although you do have to be patient).
Dan Deacon- Padding Ghost
06) Atlas Sound- Logos
A bit of an odd choice for me, just because I was never that into Deerhunter. But as the high ranking obviously shows, I have no problem with Bradford’s solo stuff. The record comes together as a single organism beautifully, coming together and expanding out with the ebbs and flows of the record. A haunting masterpiece, I listened to this album (almost exclusively) for the majority of September/October.
Atlas Sound- Walkabout (W/ Noah Lennox)
05) Volcano Choir- Unmap
I was a bit skeptical when it was announced that Justin Vernon would be getting together with Collections of Colonies of Bees to do a record, but I was truly mistaken to even second guess this brilliant collaboration. Vernon’s haunting melodies fit in perfectly with the creative ideas of Collections of Colonies of Bees, to form what we know as Volcano Choir.
Volcano Choir-Seeplymouth
04) Tyondai Braxton- Central Market
My Itunes categorizes this record as unclassifiable, and that’s the only word I could use to place a genre on it. The best way to sum it up is to show you Dave Longstreth’s (Dirty Projectors, c’mon!) quote about it: “The result is a singular mix of Stravinsky and Black Dice, Messiaen and Eno, Reich, Hindemith, and Reznor. But really Tyondai Braxton sounds most like himself.” Oh yeah, Björk and Four Tet are also fans.
Tyondai Braxton-Platinum Rows
03) Cass McCombs- Catacombs
If not for Bitte Orca, “You Saved My Life” would easily be my favorite track of the year. Catacombs is a truly wonderful album. Beautifully haunting and uplifting all in one.
Cass McCombs- You Saved My Life
02) Mos Def- The Ecstatic
Many critics didn’t give this record the credit it deserves because of Raekwon’s album. But to be blunt, this was just a better record. Seeing Dirty Projector girls Amber and Haley, along with Mos, Talib, and The Roots perform “History” on Fallon was one of my favorite TV moments of the year.
Mos Def- Supermagic
01) Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte.
Dirty Projectors- Useful Chamber
Category: Albums
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
No comments yet.
